DRAGONS back rower Ollie Griffiths has suffered another setback in his push for Wales caps after being ruled out for “weeks rather than days”.

The 25-year-old from Newbridge was forced off in the early stages of last Saturday’s Champions Cup defeat to Wasps after rolling his right ankle after being tackled when carrying powerfully.

The dynamic number eight needs further assessment of the damage but faces another spell on the sidelines, denying him the chance to push for the Six Nations in the festive derbies.

“It needs further investigation and it will be some weeks until we get an understanding of how to deal with it,” said director of rugby Dean Ryan.

“We will get further advice but it looks to be a number of weeks that he will be out for, which is a shame because he was gathering some real momentum.

South Wales Argus:

"It's becoming apparent that it's weeks rather than days but I can't wait for him to come back.

"I saw enough from him in four [completed] games that everybody should be waiting for him to come back - he's an international in waiting."

It is the latest injury setback for a player who has been limited to a solitary Test outing as a replacement against Tonga in 2017 and an appearance in the uncapped fixture against the Barbarians last year.

Griffiths was in stunning form after recovering from a summer hamstring injury – he leads the PRO14 for turnovers – but Dragons boss Dean Ryan said last month that he needed to prove his “robustness” to get back into the international squad.

Sadly, the talisman has failed on that front and has joined Wales back rower Ross Moriarty, who had ankle surgery last month, on the comeback trail.

South Wales Argus:

“You don't play the game as well as Ollie plays it without risk,” said Ryan. “Sometimes you just wish a bit of luck was around for him and that he could string a few more games together.

“That was probably the first time that I have seen him play four consecutive games and he has been outstanding.

“I can see why everybody is always so eager to see him back. Let's just get through this one.

"He is down in the dumps but he is incredibly robust mentally. He is pretty single-minded and his view is 'we've been here before, let's get on with it'.

"You can't remove the fact that it does pray on somebody's mind when they start coming back.

"We were just starting to laugh about it being four games, let's get it to five. It was just starting to not be at the forefront of everybody's mind.

"That's the challenge of this game that we play, it has huge risk for players like Ollie.”

The Dragons are also without Wales flanker Aaron Wainwright for Saturday’s Champions Cup clash at Bordeaux-Begles.

He was one of six players pulled out of the tournament opener against Wasps after two individuals tested positive for coronavirus.

Griffiths started the loss to Wasps along with Lewis Evans and Taine Basham with Lennon Greggains coming off the bench.

"Lennon is struggling a little bit," said Ryan. "I thought Lennon was outstanding when he came on but he has got a shoulder problem, so we are very light in that area now."

Blindside Huw Taylor could be in contention after suffering a knock in the PRO14 win in Glasgow.